Control mechanism



Sept. 26, 1950 o. H. WILLIFIORD CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Aug. 17, 1945 2 Sheets$ heet l 1 vv 2 auto an on .3 98 0 8 7 mw 2 E 8- 3.6 x mm B qu amuoqu INVENTOR 0. H W/LL/FORD A TTORNEY P 1950 o. H. WILLIFORD 2,523,408

CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Aug. 17, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l I l n l I I I I l l I I I. I I I III- I I IHII 9% a 5. I v c v I N INVENTOR 0.. H. WILL/FORD t BY QM We.

- ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 26, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT ,gornc E i v I 2,523,408 7 V a Y v v "coarser. MECHANISM 7 Oscar Williford, Bronxville, N.' Y., assignor to a Bell Telephone-Laboratories, Incorporated, New

York, N. ;-Y., a corporation of New York a. Application August 17, 1945 Serial No.1 :4:

Claims. (01. 1 02 102) This invention relates to firing control mechanisms and particularly to mechanisms for firing fuses employed in igniting explosive charges.

An object is to simplify the construction and operation of fuse firing mechanisms to increase their utility.

Heretofore different types of mechanical chemical or electrical fuses have been employed fo-r'igniting explosive charges such as mines or such charges as are used for propelling rockets and a number of variousmechanical devices operated by hand or by relay devices have been emswitches rotate and'make two complete revolutions; that it, while the switch takes 88 steps, 22 steps foreach half revolution. SwitchfB is also provided with two cams I06 and I01 which are rotated to o-peratecontacts as follows. C'am I06 closes its contacts in positions I to 44 and opens them in positions 45 to 88, while cam I01 ployed for firing such fuses. One'such device is disclosed in the copending application of H13. Brown, Serial No. 564,139, filed -November 18,

1944, and in this device a hand-operated mechag opens its upper contact I22 in position 44 and opens its lower contact in position 88. Other apparatus in this mechanism is a motor l0 that drives a cam I I to close contacts I2 once for each the, restore, key and III which is called advance It is a feature of the present invention to =pro- V the firing of a series of fifty-six fuses.

Referring now to the drawings, -thereare shown two ordinary step-by-step mechanisms A and B each having a series of banks. of terminals each bank having twenty-two positions and associated brushes which step over said terminals to connect with one terminal for each step, all of the brushes being shown in their normal. positions. The banks for switch A are numbered from I to 5 and the stepping magnet 0, while the banks for switch B have been numbered from I00 to I04 and the stepping magnet 15., Associated with each switch is a series of cams operating on contacts, forexample, associatedv with switch A are cams I, 8 and 9 which close.

and open associated contacts in variiouscombinations as indicated in the associated tables;w

that is, cam I closes its contacts in positions 23 to 56 and opens them in ositions 60 to l3; eam

8 closes its contacts in positions I to 22 and opera them in positions to 06, while cam'0 closes its contacts in positions 45 to 88 and opens themin positions I to 44. These cams are so driven bythe step-by-step mechanism that such closures take place at the indicated positions while the without firing k'eyf ordinary dial I I4 is also providedin this circuit and a series of indicating lamps 115,116, IIland'I'8. At the right of '5 these drawings, Figs. 1 andj2; are shown 56vfuses with associated wiring'ma'rked'in general by the figure I20 and a safety switch I2I for closureof a circuit connection to battery which may bearranged so that it closes only when, for example, a firing'door (not shown) is openedfor'the firing of therockets'associated with the fuses.

Referring to theseap aratusasdescribed and .7

their circuit connections as shown, if it is .desired to fire all of'the 56 fuses in succession, the following operations take. place.

. First the fire door is opened to-close the connection to battery at contactsIZI and then the dial H4 is operated to dial 56 but in groups of five zeros (the dial marking which indicates 1O pulses to betransmitted) and one digit 6't0 make a total of 56 impulses. The circuit for stepping w magnet I05 to operate' the' brushes maybe traced from battery, contacts IZI, dial H4, keys I09; I I 0 and III, winding of magnet I05 to ground.

The operation of'the" dial causes" the switch Y to take fifty-six steps, that is,'it rotates the brushes one revolution takin gforty-four steps to I their normal positions again and twelve steps more during the second revolution. At thistime the'brushesof banks I00 and I04 are standing on the twelfth terminal" in their respectivebanks;

In this'c'ase the cam I06 has its contacts opened. '1

which' may be adjusted is cause the motor to 1 operate 'at a desired definite speed, then through.

themotor to ground; On tlie closing of this connection, lamp I8 is lighted and. immediately extinguished the moment the motor starts but is relighted for each revolution thereof, to indicate motor operation and for checking the motor speed. Lamps I I1 are also lighted in this circuit from battery through contacts I2I to indicate that the system is in use. The motor I rotates the cam wheels I3, and I4 to close contacts I5 and IS alternately to control the firing of fuses and stepping of the switches as will be described.

The firing key I09 is now operated. This causes the stepping magnet 6 for switch A to operate in steps under control of contacts IS. The circuit for this magnet may be traced, from battery, contacts I2I, contacts of dial E M, contacts I6, contacts of keys I89 and III, winding of step ping magnet 6, resistance 22 to ground.. The magnet 6 in stepping causes circuits for firing of succeeding fuses to begin starting with fuse I through the brush of bank 3 as follows, battery. contacts I21, dial ilk-contact I5, contacts'of keys Hi, H5} and IE9, resistance 23, contacts of cam 8, brush of bank 3 and the first terminal and first fuse 25 to the common ground for all the fuses. On the next 22 steps of the stepping magnet 6, the next 21 fuses are fired through the connections made at the succeeding terminals in bank i of the switch A. When the switch A takes the twenty-third step the firing of the next fuses 2-3 to 44 takes place through the brush of bank I of switch A over, the same circuitwith theexcep tionthat the circuit extends through contacts of cam I. After the forty-fourth fuse has been fired the firing of the succeeding twelvefuses takes place through the brush of bank, 2 of switch A through the contacts of cam i. After the fiftysixth fuse is fired the stepping; magnet 8 stops operating the switch A as thismagnet is now short-circuited over a circuit now established from the battery through contacts HI, dial contacts II-t, i6, keys I09 and II I, brush of bank I09 and terminal 56, terminal 56 and brush of bank 5 switch B, contacts. of cam Q, contacts of key I It, lamp IIE to ground. This causes lamp M5 to respond to the impulses by contacts IE and flash accordingly, indicating that all the fuses have been fired and that the firing key should be restored and the mechanism returned to normal. When this indication is given the firing key M39 is released and the restore'key I!!! is operated extinguishing lamp II5. Switch B is now restored to normal over acircuit from battery, contacts I 2!, contacts'of dial H4, contacts I5, contacts of keys III, III], brush and the fiftysixth terminal and succeeding terminals for sucseeding steps of banks IM and IE2 of switch B, magnet 565 to ground. That is, switch B will take 32 more steps before it gets back to normal. When the switch B has returned to normal the connection through the brush of bank I02 to the terminals of this bank is open and magnet I05 now ceases to operate and thus switch B will remain in normal position. Switch A will now be returned to normal from the fifty-sixth position by a circuit closed'from battery, contacts I25, contacts of dial H4, contacts I5, contacts of keys HI, Iii), brush of bank I02 in normal position, contacts I22 of cam I01, winding; of stepping magnet 6, resistance 22 to ground. When the magnet 6 has returned the switch A to normal a short-circuit therefor is provided through the brush and normal terminal of bank Iill of switch B and normal terminal and brush of bank 4 of switch A, contacts of cam 9 switchA, contacts of key I I0, lamp III; to ground. This lamp now 4 flashes under control of contacts I5 to indicate that the both switches A and B have returned to normal. The key III] may now be released.

If it is desired to fire only a limited number of fuses instead of the whole series the procedure is the same as described except that the dial H4 is operated to the particular number desired to be fired. This sets the switch Bv to this number and when switch A has been advanced to the corresponding number and fired the number of fuses it stops and the switch may then be returned to normal.

If it is desired to fire any particular group of fuses in succession in any position in the series, the dial I I4 is operated to the particular number in the series at which the first fuse in the desired group is located. This operates the switch B to this position as described hereinbefore. Then the advance Without fire key III is operated and this advances switch A to the position of this first fuse. The circuit for advancing switch A under these conditions may be traced from battery, contacts I2I,'dia1' I54, contacts I5, key I I I stepping magnet 6, resistance 22 to ground. When the switch A has advanced to this position where firing shall begin, it stops due to its being short-circuited as herei-nbefore described through bank 4 or 5 of switch A and bank I00 or IDI of switch :Bdepending on "wherefthe series to be fired is'located. If, for exzinhpleythe eleventh to the twentieth fuses are to be fired, the select magnets advances the brushes to the tenth terminals and then stops as it is short-circuited by the connection established through bank 5 of switch A and bank It]! of switch B oye'r a circuit'thr'ough contacts of cam I [36. If on the other hand,for example, thefiring was to begin on the thirtiethfuse, the short-circuit would have been extended through the banks fiend NH and contacts of cam 36L If the'first fuse to be fired had been, for example, the fiftieth, the short-circuit would have extended through bank 5 and bank 1-00. When the selector A has advanced to the proper position, the lamp I I5 will flash as hereinbefore describedjas an indication that the key III is to be released. When the key I I is released, the dial is again operated to determine the, number of fuses to be fired from the selected position in the series. This advances the switch B the desired number of steps, say for example 10 if ten fuses are to be fired and. then the firing key I09 is operated to 'causethe' ten fuses to be fired as hereinbefore described.

If after havin fired a group of fuses .anywhere in the series as described above, it is decided instead of restoring the switches to normal to fire a group of fuses that are. located immediately after the fuses first fired, the operator'will. as soon as the lamp IIE flashes, indicating that the first group of fuses have been fired oper dial H4 to dial the number of-succeeding fuses to be fired thereafter; This advances reselector switch B the corresponding steps and the, operator then operates the firing keyv I89 whereupon selector switch A operates as before and fires the second group of fuses. When these fuses-have been fired lamp I I5 flashes as before and the switches may then be returnedto normal .as

, The device indicated as numerallIi-iii on Fig. 2

and located between the dial I14 and =theilamps II! is intended to represent a circuit protective device, such as a thermal relay. Such a device may operate in a number of waysrsuch" as "to open all the control circuits, except for motor In and lamp 18, upon excessive ambient temperature conditions or such as to open all the said control circuits upon passage of an excessive current through heating winding I3l, the said current being chosen from any part of the circuits which may be worthy of excessive current protection.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a series of electrically fireable fuses, first electromagnetic switching means for preselecting for firing any desired group of said fuses, each group containing any desired plural number of succeeding fuses less than all among said series, and second electromagnetic switching means for thereafter selecting and firing said preselected fuses under the control of said first electromagnetic switching means.

2. In combination, a series of electrically fireable fuses, an electromagnetic preselector for preselecting for firing any desired group of said fuses, each group containing any desired plural number of succeeding fuses less than all among said series, and an electromagnetic selector for thereafter selecting and firing said preselected fuses under control of said preselector.

3. In combination, a series of electrically fireable fuses, a preselector, first means for actuating said preselector to preselect for firing any desired group of said fuses, each group containing any desired plural number of succeeding fuses less than all among said series, a selector, and second means for actuating said selector under the control of said first means and in accordance with the preselection made by said preselector to thereafter select and fire the said preselected fuses.

4. In combination, a series of electrically fireable fuses, pulsing means, a pulse actuated preselector, first switch means operative to associate said pulsing means with said preselector, said preselector set in response to the operation of said pulsing means and to the operation of said said pulsing means with said selector, said selector responsive to the operation of said second switch means and under the control thereof and of said pulsing device and of said first switch means and in accordance with the preselection made by said preselector for thereafter selecting and firing the said preselected fuses.

5. In combination, a series of electrically fireable fuses, a pulsing device, a first step-by-step switch, a first key mechanism operative to associate said pulsing device with said first switch, said first step-by-step switch set iii response to the operation of said device and to the operation of said first key mechanism for preselecting for firing any desired group of said fuses, each group containing any desired plural number of succeeding fuses less than all among said series, a second step-by-step switch, and a second key mechanism operative to associate said pulsing device with said second switch, said second stepby-step switch responsive to the operation of said second key mechanism and under the control thereof and of said device and of said first key mechanism and in accordance with the setting of said first step-by-step switch for thereafter'selecting and firing the said preselected fuses.

OSCAR H. WILLIFORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Nelson Mar. 14, 1933 

